Tracey O'Neill of Marie Stopes warned yesterday in an article in the Sunday
Times that the financial crisis is the root cause of the increase in
abortions for women in their 30s. In her words 'There is good evidence
that, in a recession, women delay marriage and taking out mortgages into
their late 20s. That in turn delays them having families until their early
or mid-thirties. If they have an unplanned pregnancy at a certain stage in
their career, or have just embarked on a mortgage and can't afford maternity
leave, they may consider termination.'

This is a very interesting comment bearing in mind that in last month's BBC
Five Live programme hosted by Victoria Derbyshire, Marie Stopes' employee
Karen was adamant that financial concerns are not a legal reason for
abortion and that Marie Stopes would never carry out an abortion on those
grounds.

What do we make of Ms O'Neill's comment? Are Marie Stopes saying that they do in
fact perform illegal abortions –  rather than telling women with financial worries
where to go for practical help and advice on having their babies?

In fact, there has been no increase in abortions for women in their 30s,
which has stayed at 17 per 1000 women in 2010 and 2011.